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If you listen to Al Queda and other terrorist groups, the US and Israel are evil and should be fought, blown up, and terrorized because we hate all the world's billion (or so) Muslims. Then we hear from "moderate" Muslim leaders that we are all in the fight against terrorism together. Next, we hear that western thought is not compatible with Muslim beliefs. And in between all this, Iranian leaders want to wipe out Israel and punish the US for invading Iraq, and we get the impression that all one billion Muslims are supposed to hate Americans. Except maybe they shouldn't hate American Muslims, many of whom are running around saying they're good Americans and shouldn't be treated as potential terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. I've been confused about all of this since I attended an Interfaith Interracial Council event in Sarasota, Florida, shortly after the 9/11 attack.

The theme of this event, held at Sarasota High School, was, "Please don't hate or kill us just because we're Muslims. It was Bad Muslims who flew planes into the World Trade Center. We're Good Muslims who want to live peacefully among you."

There had been some unpleasant local incidents involving veil-wearing women and Arab-looking men at local shopping centers, and a hand-made sign in the sporting goods section of a local Wal~Mart fell just short of saying, "Buy a rifle and kill a raghead today," so the Muslims' concern was legitimate.

One problem: There was a brochure table by the door, set up by a local Islamic center, and it held hundreds of copies of a four-color, magazine-format publication that glorified brave Palestinian martyrs, complete with pictures of mangled, blood-covered Israelis.

Sarasota is far from the most Jewish part of Florida, but there were enough Jews in the crowd to scream about this blatant pro-terrorist propaganda. One little old lady -- we're talking at least 80, maybe five feet tall in heels -- probably would have choked all the Muslims in the room to death with her bare hands if there hadn't been plenty of police standing by. She was a concentration camp survivor and was in a frothing rage at the "Filth" she saw in the middle of a table that also held brochures with titles like "Islam, Religion of Peace." Other attendees were less noisy, but were just as shocked to see hate literature brought to a meeting that was supposed rein in anti-Muslim sentiment, not incite it.

An Islamic leader apologized for the hate literature and said his group hadn't brought it. In fact, all the Muslims denied having brought it. But none decried anti-Israeli terrorism or apologized for the homicide bombings themselves. Even in the small-group sessions that followed the main set of speeches, I heard justifications for bombing Israelis, not any expression that such a thing might be wrong.

The terrorism we were all supposed to be fighting was apparently only terrorism in the US, against Americans. Bombing Israelis was resistance, which was not the same thing as terrorism. Or so the Muslims seemed to say.

The non-Muslims in the room didn't seem to grasp that distinction. I had trouble with it myself.

Over the next two years I visited Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In both countries I got earfuls about how "we aren't terrorists, it's only a few Bad Muslims who are terrorists."

I also got earfuls about how it was legitimate for Muslims to martyr themselves as a way to reclaim Israel from the Zionists and the Americans who support them.

Here's a link to a page full of Anti-Israeli cartoons originally published in Arab newspapers. (It may be hard to get through to this page; it's popular right now. But the images show Israeli leaders literally drenched in blood, covered with Nazi paraphenalia. Sickening stuff.) In contrast, look at the Prophet as Bombhead cartoon that's caused screaming fits all over the Muslim world. It is innocuous by comparison.

Another belief I ran into when traveling in Arab countries was that the World Trade Center attack was masterminded by Israel. I heard this repeatedly, as fact. I was told, over and over, that all the Jews who worked in the World Trade Center stayed home that morning.

Now Iranian bigwigs are telling us that the Nazis didn't exterminate millions of Jews; that the holocaust was a hoax. I'll bet the little old concentration camp survivor lady in Sarasota would have a few words to say about that!

What would Mohammed do?

The answer to this depends who you ask. The Stayameva Jayate site anwers, "Kill a whole lot of people."

The Wikipedia Jihad entry is more reasoned and scholarly, and is about how Muslims are supposed to behave (in theory) rather than an anti-Muslim screed.

Want more ideas? Do a Google search for Koran+Jihad and you'll get over 1.25 million links. Maybe you have time to read them all. I don't, but I've skimmed though over 100 of them. Based on my fast survey, there are probably at least 1.25 million different opinions on how Mohammed said his followers should treat unbelievers.

Some of the sites this exercise takes you to tell horrible stories about Mohammed and his warriors slaughtering Jewish men and enslaving their wives and children. Other sites deny that this happened or say that maybe it did, but it wasn't as bad as it looked, and maybe there were only a few dozen victims, not 900. Got me. But it's apparent that Mohammed personally killed and enslaved plenty of people, some of whom were Jews, for the "crime" of not supporting Islam.

One thread that runs through a lot of the Islamic apologists' writings is along the lines of, "Hey! You Christians and Jews and Hindus all kill a lot of people and have owned slaves and oppressed your women, too, so why come down on us for doing these things?

Yeah. That makes as much sense as G.W. Bush saying we need to become torturers and ignore our Constitution because our enemies do. I call it the "Greater Asshole" defense: "I do bad things because my enemies do, and if they're assholes I have an obligation to be an even bigger asshole."

I'm a "live and let live" kind of guy. If you want to believe in Mohammed or Buddha or be a Hubbardite or whatever, it's fine with me. I won't try to shove my beliefs down your throat if you don't try to shove yours down mine. If Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door I am generally polite to them unless they won't take my courteous "No, thanks," kindly and leave me alone. Then I tend to get upset and point out to them that maybe I don't want to spend eternity in their heaven.

Can Muslims "live and let live?"

My biggest quarrel with Islam is with the faith's lack of the "live and live" attitude I espouse, and which I believe is the dominant attitude here in America. One of our nation's greatest strengths is that most of us get along reasonably well most of the time, despite having many differences when it comes to religion and politics. We're basically kind to kittens, even though the current Republican leadership is unwilling to extend that same kindness to humans.

The difference here in the United States is that we only play the "Greater Asshole" game to a limited degree. Bush and his crowd aren't going to be in office forever. The country will swing toward kindness sooner or later, and after a while it will swing back. We'll hear talk of vast right wing conspiracies and left wing media bias, but at the end of the day it'll just be talk, and we'll go back to fishing, taking care of our gardens, raising our kids and grandkids, and other essential activities. We won't have hundreds of young American men and women strap bombs to themselves or plant roadside explosives because their favorite politician lost an election.

We sure as bleep don't like people who scream threats because they don't like a newspaper cartoon.

In America, Muslims who want to be good citizens need to moderate their faith and, as the saying goes, "Go along to get along." Reacting to cartoons with "You have offended me so you must die!!!" fervor here must be left to lunatic fringies like Pat Robertson and Timothy McVeigh.

American Muslims must not justify killing or hatred or supporting terror by pointing out that they're no worse than Robertson or McVeigh. That's "Greater Asshole" behavior. Come to think of it, Muslims all over the world really ought to stop the "My way or die" crap. And those who say, "It's in the Koran. Violence against all unbelievers -- especially against Jews -- is a core part of my faith," had better watch out, because if that's your attitude you really are at war with the rest of the world.

Note that we -- the rest of the world -- have not asked for this war. You did. When your violent acts and threats of violence are greeted with contempt by everyone from Israelis to Brazilians, you need to look seriously in your mirror and realize that the rest of the world isn't the problem. You are.